Message from Chairman and CEO Telefónica O2 Europe plc

We're in this together

Peter Erskine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Telefónica O2 Europe

In recent years, big businesses have begun to grasp that their survival depends on relationships with many others and how they manage the risks their organisations may pose for society and the environment.

Our business is fast moving into the centre of the digital arena. It’s been a momentous year for O2. With Telefónica’s support, we’ve expanded into new markets and explored new technologies, such as broadband and internet TV.

But our change of ownership has not changed our values. We are as determined as ever to be a responsible business – a goal we share absolutely with Telefónica.

When the O2 brand launched five years ago, we set out to ensure we could be held to account systematically for our actions everyday through good governance, and we track our progress constantly. Our values from the outset were to be: bold, open, trusted and clear.

Our actions reflect the ideas and concerns of people who work for O2, our customers and the communities in which we work. This year, among many others, our stakeholder dialogue has taken us and other leading UK businesses to talk with Government about how to offer our customers environmentally-friendly products through the ‘We’re In This Together’ campaign.

We continue to recognise that all elements of society are interdependent and that, by building partnerships and alliances with people inside and outside of O2, our business is a better one - creating jobs, value, wealth, environmental progress, fair products and a sustainable business that listens and learns from others.

A year on from our merger with Telefónica, and the spirit of co-operation is tremendous. They’ve backed us with investment and advice, including the acquisition of UK broadband company, Be, and the roll out of broadband in Germany.

But we retain a strong sense of O2 – both as a brand and as a culture. We have worked together this year to integrate our approach, without losing sight of our local ties and obligations. At O2, we’ve had the clear focus to turn our customers into fans by rewarding them for their loyalty, for example.

We’ve made strides during the year in areas such as child protection and tackling our environmental responsibilities. But, as we report on 2006, we continue in 2007 to work hard in these two areas, as well as on ethical procurement, social and digital inclusion, the health debate, and considerations of how our technologies affect the privacy and security of our customers and communities.

In common with Telefónica, I believe that we have a big role to play in helping to tackle the challenges that face society.  You will read in this report that we try to do this by setting ourselves targets every year that aim to continually improve our impact on society – from the way we simply greet a customer in an O2 store to the way we try to support worldwide efforts to combat climate change.

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